Ok, there might be one or two homemade kits smaller than this but probably not too many. I have to give credit to my youngest son for turning me on to this project idea. Big thanks, T-Man!

For this project, you’ll need the following:

Two plastic soda bottles, a glue gun, a hacksaw, sandpaper, scissors, marker, and an old gift card or something similar. Here’s we used one of those fake credits cards you get in the mail from time to time.

Start by cutting the threaded tops off of both soda bottles. Cut just behind the plastic ridge, as shown here:

Next, sand down the cut edges as smooth as you can. You might not be able to get them absolutely perfect, but that’s ok.

Now, take one of the bottle tops and place it on the credit card and trace around it.

Cut out that circle, trying to make the cut as clean as you can. While you’re doing this, plug in the glue gun so it heats up.

Run a bead of glue all around the plastic disk, then carefully center one of the bottle tops onto it.

Let the glue set up for a minute, then turn the bottle top upside down, run another bead of glue around the disk, and attach the other bottle top.

Now, you could stop right here. What you have at this point is a nifty little storage container, suitable for things like tinder or meds. You could even omit the plastic disk and have a larger, single interior rather than double-sided.

But, I promised you a fishing kit so here’s what to do next. Cut the plastic ring off of one of the bottle tops. Then, tie on some fishing line and wind it around the bottle top, being careful to not go onto the threads. When I made this one, I stopped at 55′ of line. Crimp a split shot sinker on the loose end of the line and drop it into the bottle top, then screw down the cap.

Toss some hooks and split shot sinkers into the other side.

Again, it might not be the absolute smallest fishing kit in the world but it is pretty damn tiny. Toss one in your pocket and you’ll hardly know it is there. Be sure to use braided fishing line as other types have a “memory” and tend to end up in a coiled mess.

All told, I think it took my son and I maybe 15 minutes to put this together. And, that’s with stopping at each step to take photos. Admittedly, we could have taken the time to use a Dremel tool or something to clean up the cuts and such but that’s just window dressing, really.

Have some fun with this project and let me know how you end up customizing it for yourself!